Senior Technical Program Manager, UAS Autonomy & Systems

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visitwww.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI onLinked

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At Shield AI, we are revolutionizing defense technology with AI-powered autonomous systems. As a Technical Program Manager, you will lead the integrated execution of complex autonomy-enabled UAS programs from requirements through deployment. You will combine systems-engineering rigor with program-management discipline and scaled-Agile leadership to align multiple engineering teams, manage technical and delivery risk, and deliver verified capability to customers.

This role is ideal for a technically credible leader with deep experience in system integration, requirements management, verification and test, integrated planning, and cross-functional execution. You will establish the plans, operating cadence, technical visibility, and decision mechanisms that enable teams to deliver high-impact mission capability predictably.

• Lead end-to-end execution of complex UAS, autonomy, mission-system, or customer-delivery programs, achieving technical, schedule, cost, quality, and customer objectives.
• Own integrated program plans, including scope, milestones, schedules, critical path, resource needs, dependencies, risks, issues, decisions, and change control.
• Partner with technical leads to ensure requirements, interfaces, verification plans, test readiness, technical baselines, and customer acceptance criteria are clear, measurable, and traceable.
• Lead cross-functional system integration and test execution across hardware, software, autonomy, systems engineering, test, manufacturing, flight operations, cybersecurity, and field/customer teams.
• Drive timely resolution of technical, programmatic, and cross-team issues; facilitate trade studies, risk mitigations, recovery plans, and leadership decisions when needed.
• Establish and lead an effective multi-team delivery cadence, including integrated planning, dependency reviews, program execution reviews, system demonstrations, release-readiness reviews, and continuous-improvement activities.
• Coordinate delivery across multiple engineering teams, releases, and customer commitments; identify and remove systemic blockers that affect integrated capability delivery.
• Communicate technical status, risks, tradeoffs, decisions, and delivery outlook clearly to engineering leadership, executives, customers, and external stakeholders.
• Develop and use program metrics and dashboards to improve execution predictability, integration readiness, requirements-verification status, risk posture, and release performance.
• Mentor project engineers and technical leads in integrated planning, systems-engineering execution, risk management, and cross-functional delivery practices.

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or a related STEM discipline.
• Typically 8–12+ years of experience in systems engineering, project engineering, technical program management, aerospace, defense, robotics, autonomy, UAS, or a similarly complex technical environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional technical programs involving multiple engineering disciplines and delivering integrated products, capabilities, or customer solutions.
• Strong systems-engineering experience, including requirements management, traceability, interface management, system integration, verification and validation, test planning/execution, and configuration or technical-baseline management.
• Proven program-management capability, including integrated planning and scheduling, scope management, resource coordination, risk and issue management, stakeholder communication, and execution reporting.
• Experience coordinating multiple Agile teams or technical work streams toward shared releases, demonstrations, system-level milestones, or customer deliveries.
• Strong written, verbal, and executive communication skills, with the ability to explain technical status, risks, and tradeoffs to both technical and…